


Happens Every Time

by stressedoutteenager



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Yousana AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-21 02:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12447508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stressedoutteenager/pseuds/stressedoutteenager
Summary: Sana and Yousef know each other for almost all their lives and actually are friends. However, the older they get the more complicated their friendship gets.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A little bit inspired by the song 'Personal' by the Vamps and Maggie Lindemann and the offical music video to it.

There was always one constant in Sana’s life.

Her brother Elias.

Of course her family in general was always there but with Elias it was different. It might be because he’s not much older than her; it might be because he somehow always just knows how Sana feels.

And with her brother there comes another person into the picture that is almost always by Elias’ side.

Yousef Acar. Her brother’s best friend since kindergarten.

Wherever Elias is, Yousef will be there too.

And that place happens to be the Bakkoush’s house on most days.

This way Sana didn’t just grow up with her siblings, but also with Yousef.

-

When Yousef met Elias for the first time on the first day of kindergarten, he couldn’t have known that Elias will become his best friend. He couldn’t have known that he’d spend most of his days with him at his friend’s house.

He also couldn’t have known that he’d spend a lot of time not only with Elias but additionally with his sister, Sana.

-

On Sana’s 6th birthday she was surprised by Elias with a basketball as a gift. She was so happy about it that she almost cried. While Elias prided himself because he had saved up a bit of money he got from his grandparents to buy his little sister a present, Sana was really grateful but she also knew that he didn’t come up with it all by himself.

Sana knows that because a month before her birthday Sana, Elias and Yousef were in the living room watching a cartoon show and when there was a commercial break, Elias went to ask the oldest Bakkoush sibling if he wants to join them. That left Sana and Yousef alone and they attentively watched the commercials. One of them showing a kids basketball team for some kind of detergent advertisement. Suddenly Sana’s eyes had lit up and she sat up straight. Without talking to anyone in particular, rather talking to herself, she had said: When I’m older I’m going to play that.

-

On Sana’s 6th birthday Yousef was invited to her birthday party. Her whole family was there, all of them that lived close enough and Yousef and his family.

His mother had bought and packed a present for Sana before he could even suggest something. It was funny to Yousef, he didn’t even see Sana for the first half hour he was there because her family was all around her. Only in the hallway, when they both wanted to go to the bathroom at the same time, they met and Yousef said Happy Birthday.

Sana thanked him with a toothy grin and seeing her like that made him insanely happy. Yousef couldn’t really say why that made him so happy but he didn’t think about it much either. The chocolate cake waiting for him in the living room with his mother concerned him more.

Until the doorbell rang and Sana left him standing there to go run to the door and open it. He watched as Sana’s face lit up and she jumped up a little, making her hair bounce, as a boy and his parents came through the door.  
Sana’s mother arrived at the door seconds later. While Mama Bakkoush was greeting the neighbours, Sana had already gripped the neighbour-boy’s arm to drag him to the living room excitedly.

Yousef found himself frowning for a second but since he didn’t really understand why, he had shrugged and walked into the bathroom with the thought of chocolate cake that awaits him in a bit.

-

“Are you going to join us?”, Elias asks Sana while eating breakfast.

“What are you up to?”, their father asks, looking from his younger son to his daughter.  Sana looks at him wide-eyed because she has no idea what her brother is talking about.

Elias doesn’t mind though, he looks at his dad and explains: “Yousef and I wanted to meet up at the park to play football.”

14- year old Elias likes to think he is really mature and almost an adult anyway so he can take care of his sister when they are out together. Even if it’s just the park around the corner.

Sana tilts her head slightly and scrunches her nose up in thought. She wants to go to the park but she doesn’t feel like playing football.

“I’d rather play basketball.”, Sana answers.

Their parents just watch as their kids communicate silently. Sana just looks at her older brother, letting him know that she would come anyway and Elias nods, understanding.

They end up taking a football and a basketball with them, promising to their mother not to play on the street until they get to the park.

“Don’t be too late. Be home for lunch.”, they are reminded by their dad from the window, who is watching them walk down the street.

Once they arrive at the park they see Yousef sitting on a bench close by. He is rolling a football up and down with his foot and seems preoccupied until Elias shouts his name.

Yousef’s head snaps up and a full-blown grin breaks out on his face when he sees his friends. It’s Sunday and since he was at a football-tournament all day on the previous day, he hadn’t seen either of them.

“Hey!”, Elias says at the same time Sana says, “Hi.”

“Hi, guys. We should get going. Two boys are already at one of the goals, we have to get the other one at least.”, Yousef rambles quickly, picking up the ball and holding it with both his hands. The last couple of minutes he tried to make sure nobody got their usual spot but he also wanted to wait for Elias.

Elias is quick to start running towards the football field, if it can be called that, but Sana stays behind. She dribbles her ball once and twice and looks around for someone that could play basketball with her. Before she finds anyone, she hears Yousef shout out her name.

Turning to where his voice comes from, Sana sees him walking back towards her, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

“Aren’t you playing with us?”

“I want to play basketball.”, Sana answers with a small smile.

Yousef’s own smile falters for a moment. Not for long. He gets distracted when Elias calls out to him. Sana and Yousef both turn to look at Elias. He’s waving them over and when he understands Sana won’t come he shouts that she shouldn’t go far. Yousef nods in agreement and then turns to Sana once more.

“See you later.”

“Have fun!”, Sana calls after him. In that moment Yousef is glad he’s not facing Sana and instead is walking away because he’s smiling like an idiot.

They spend a lot of time at the park. It’s a sunny day and they’re having fun. That’s why they almost forget that lunch is a thing they need to have and that at home. When Elias notices he tells Yousef and they stop the match they’ve been playing against the two other boys there. After that the two best friends walk a few meters behind each other, throwing the balls to each other back and forth.

“I’m so hungry!”, Elias grumbles and misses the ball, almost getting hit right at the head. “Where’s Sana? Mom said we have to be home for lunch.”

Yousef is a tiny bit taller than Elias and tries to use that height to find Sana faster. He knows she has to be somewhere close.

“There!”, Elias says, pointing into her direction.

Yousef is not a hundred percent sure but she seems to be playing with a familiar boy. A boy that is around a lot.

“Elias, is that your neighbour?”, Yousef asks, pointing in the direction where Sana is dribbling past the boy. An uncomfortable feeling spreads in Yousef’s stomach. It only gets worse when he sees Sana smile broadly when she scores and turns to the boy to tell him.

“Yeah, Harun. He’s at our school too.”, Elias answers. “Good that Sana wasn’t playing alone.”

Yousef can’t seem to look anywhere but at the two playing basketball. That uncomfortable feeling doesn’t go away but he figures that he’s just hungry.

-

Yousef ended up staying at the Bakkoush house after lunch and since Elias’ mother called his mother there was nothing to worry about.

“Listen to me, I know I’m right.”

Sana is facing Elias and Yousef who have built a front against her. Both boys with their arms crossed over their chest. Sana feels like rolling her eyes. Just because they are a bit older and taller than her, they think they know everything.

“But we’re older.”, Yousef says with a smile he can’t push back.

“Yousef, I know that I’m right.”, Sana argues, now also crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Sana, you’re not.”, the boys say at the same time and proceed to high-five each other for that.

It doesn’t even matter what they are arguing about. To neither of the three. Small banter like this is just part of their friendship. All three of them have been spending a lot of time together and are comfortable around each other by now. It just feels like Yousef is a part of their lives, as if he always has been.

That uncomfortable feeling in Yousef’s stomach from earlier that day? Vanished.

-

“Where’s Yousef?”

Elias doesn’t even look up from his Gameboy he loves more than most things. “Went home.”

Sana just nods, knowing her brother doesn’t see it. Yousef almost never goes home before saying bye to her. He’s her friend, after all. She suddenly feels very exhausted. But she was at the park for a lot of time today, she thinks.

Closing the door of her brother’s room Sana goes into her own room and immediately goes to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

His 16th birthday Yousef decided to celebrate in a small circle. He doesn’t like that much attention on himself so that’s why most of Elias’ suggestions were shot down.   
As his best friend, Elias just wanted Yousef to have a nice 16th birthday but that made his ideas come out very extra.

“Elias, I just want to invite some friends and eat and play FIFA or something. Nothing big.”, Yousef finally says, not wanting to hear more about the ten thousand different plans Elias has already made. Yousef appreciates the dedication a lot, and he is the same on Elias’ birthdays, but being on the receiving end of this is not the best thing for him.

Elias sits on the table in front of Yousef and rummages through his school bag to find something to write on. They’re chilling in one of the empty classrooms since it really doesn’t bother anyone.

“Okay, your call.”, Elias answers, “So who do you want to invite?”

Yousef leans back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and thinking for a moment. Who does he want to spend his birthday with? His family will be there on his actual birthday, and the following weekend he’ll invite his friends. That was the plan he had in his mind so far.

“Well,..”, Yousef begins talking and with a smile on his face continues when the first two faces pop into his head, “You and Sana, obviously.”

Elias grins at his best friend. Of course these Bakkoush siblings need to be mentioned first because they’re Yousef’s closest friends.

“The boys, too.”, Yousef continues. He furrows his eyebrows in concentration and while he thinks, Elias writes down the names.

Mikael, Adam and Mutta. Elias and Yousef met these three boys on the first day at Elvebakken. And it didn’t take more than one break to become really good friends with them.

“The dance crew.”, Yousef lists and keeps mentioning a few more people he wants to see on his birthday.

-

When Sana got ready and packed Yousef’s present she didn’t think much of it. Going to Yousef’s house is nothing too special. Sometimes Sana finds herself there without Yousef or Elias with her. She really gets along well with Yousef’s mother and one of his cousins is always at his house and Sana gets along really well with her, too.

The thing is Sana didn’t realize one big thing.

She’d be the only girl at his birthday party. She didn’t realize it until she stepped through the door and found herself surrounded by boys, all at least two years older than her.

That alone wouldn’t have been a problem. Thanks to Elias and their older brother, Sana is used to being surrounded by older boys that hang around her house a lot. This time though, as soon as she steps in the living room, Sana feels all eyes on her. And they follow her every step.

 _What’s their problem? Haven’t they ever seen a girl?_ , Sana thinks.

She finds Yousef in the kitchen and immediately gives him his present. She knew what he wanted so it wasn’t hard to find it. Of course he didn’t tell her. Yousef would never tell her or anyone that he wants something for his birthday. No matter how often you ask. The only exceptions are his parents.

Yousef’s eyes follow Sana’s movement as she reaches out to hand him the bag. For a moment he is incapable of gripping the bag. He is distracted.

Sana started wearing the hijab some time ago. To Yousef it’s like he has never seen her any differently. The light grey hijab she is wearing now is making him smile involuntarily. The last couple of months she’d been wearing almost exclusively black, and that’s her choice obviously, but Yousef can’t deny that she looks beautiful.

He would never deny that, anyway.

His friend is a very pretty girl. Not that this is his main focus. Sana is his friends for many reasons.

“Yousef.”, Sana calls his name softly, waving her hand in front of his face.

Getting pulled out of his thought Yousef chuckles slightly, trying not to show what he was thinking. He once dared to tell Sana she looks really pretty when she wore a pink dress for Eid and she wouldn’t look him in the eyes for the next hours. Although Yousef still doesn’t get why that was a big deal, he keeps a note at the back of his head. He compliments all his friends, all the time. Being positive and friendly is underrated, Yousef thinks.

“Yousef. Snap out of it, whatever it is.”, Sana laughs, shaking her head at him. “I got you something and I hope you like it.”

Yousef narrows his eyes at the bag and lifts his eyes to meet Sana’s. Looking at her accusingly Yousef says: “Didn’t I say I don’t want a present from you?”

Sana gasps at that, also narrowing her eyes, mimicking him in everything he does: “You just don’t want a present from _me_. Okay, I get it. And I thought we’re friends.”

It’s obvious in her tone that she’s just joking. Yousef knows that. He has been bickering and fighting with her over stupid little things for the past years. Still, there is a small nagging feeling in his stomach that makes him want to ask her if she really is just joking, whenever she uses this tone. That doesn’t happen with Elias, or any other friends of his.

Grabbing the bag out of Sana’s hand he makes a point in opening the bag slowly while looking at her. Rolling her eyes, Sana just waits. She is almost certain he’ll like it. So she can’t wait for him to open it.

But he doesn’t get to now.

“Yousef, the boys are here!”, Elias’ voice can be heard.

‘More people?’, Sana thinks to herself. The living room was already pretty full. But Yousef is a likable person so it’s not surprising at all.

.

“So you’re Elias little sister?”, Adam, a boy with very bright eyes asks Sana.

Sana nods and asks: “And you’re Adam, right?”

The boy chuckles and grins at her. “So you heard about me?” Why is he so cocky again? And even though he’s cocky like that, Sana can’t help but like him already. He is very similar to her brother. She can see how they get along with him so well.

“Not much, really.”, Sana shrugs. She didn’t know another person was listening but when Mikael turns to them and hold his hand out for her to high-five her, she looks at him confused. What even is going on with these boys?

Sana has to admit though, out of all the people in here Adam, Mikael and another boy named Mutta are the most likable ones. These three don’t look at her weirdly when she does .. well, anything.

As an answer to the confusion on Sana’s face, Mikael smiles at her crookedly and explains: “You’re not letting his ego get awfully big. That’s amazing. High-five for that.”

.

“I guess, she is only here because she’s Elias’ sister.”

“She’s a kid. Doesn’t matter whose sister she is.”

“I don’t get why Yousef didn’t want to invite some other girls from class but invited her.”, a blond guy with curls says.

Sana wishes she wouldn’t have walked into the kitchen. She didn’t think she’d hear something that makes her chest tighten and breathing hard.

Yousef’s house is a safe space for her. Usually. Especially with what’s going on in school. These things are not the same things Sana gets to hear every day at school, but these are things that are similar enough.

Being compared to the ‘other girls’ and them being preferred is just one of the things.

Instantly something moves in Sana. She swallows the lump in her throat, takes a deep breath and walks back into the living room. Her brother is playing at the PlayStation so she walks up to him, leans down a little and tells him she’s going.

“What? Why?”, Elias instantly asks in a hushed voice, since Sana was talking in that tone too.

Sana just shrugs and tells him she’s going one more time and leaves the room.

-

Elias slept over at Yousef’s that day. The next morning, being a Sunday, Mama Bakkoush invited the Acars over for breakfast.  

As soon as he steps foot into the house, Yousef asks where Sana is. When told she’s in the garden, he doesn’t even take his shoes of and walks out again. His parents don’t care much; their kids have been hanging out since they were little. It’s the usual.

Elias knows better. When Sana left the day before, Yousef noticed about five minutes later. He couldn’t come up with a good reason why one of his best friends would leave his birthday party so early. So he wants to ask her.

“Sana?”, Yousef calls out for her. “Sana!”

He finds her in their backyard, at the basketball hoop. She has headphones in her ears and looks so concentrated and so still for a moment that he can see the small age difference clearly. And somehow that bothers him. He doesn’t care how old his friends are.

It takes Sana a moment to see Yousef and when she does, she takes off her headphones and smiles at him. Of course he smiles back but then goes to take the basketball out of her hand and dribbles it once or twice.

“Hey! What was that for?”, Sana asks, walking closer slowly.

Yousef holds the ball in front of him and shrugs. “Why did you leave so early yesterday?”

Sana takes two quick steps and almost is able to get the ball but that height difference makes it impossible for her to get it. Yousef is being a little shit by holding the ball up over his head.

“I just didn’t want to bother with your friends and all.”, Sana answers, not really looking him in the eyes. Yousef knows this behaviour. Sana is not scared of confrontation, ever. But somehow this is the third time, as far as Yousef can remember, that she doesn’t tell him things.

“Bother with my friends?”, Yousef asks incredulously. “ And what are you? I thought you’re my friend too?”

He doesn’t move further away, in contrary. He takes a step forward.   
Sana on the other hand stops. She doesn’t move closer, she doesn’t try to grab the basketball.

The sun is shining into Yousef’s face and he can barely look at Sana properly. He shuts one eye and lifts his free hand to shield the other one.   
Somehow, this moment makes Sana take a step back. Yousef’s dark hair falls onto his forehead and his furrowed eyebrows twitch shortly.

“Yeah. I am.”, Sana finally brings herself to answer which was harder than it should have been.

“Good.”, Yousef answers with a smirk and throws Sana the ball. She doesn’t expect it and is caught off guard but still manages to catch it.

She glares at the tall boy and is about to say something when Yousef starts talking before her.

“You’re one of my best friends and I’m not sure why you really left yesterday..”, Sana opens her mouths but Yousef knows Sana well enough so he just continues talking, “… but thank you for your present.” He unzips his coat and shows her the jumper with his favorite band on the front. “Even though I told you I don’t want a present.”

“You’re welcome.”, is all that Sana says with a smile, showing her dimples, before turning away and throwing the ball into the hoop.

The wind blows the dark fabric of her hijab over her shoulder and Yousef’s eyes can’t help but follow it. She’s back to black but it’s Sana. Everything looks good.

And even though Yousef knows there must have been something to make Sana leave early, he wouldn’t push her to tell him.

He can’t help but remember the disappointment when he realized she was gone the day before. Not long before she left he had seen her talk to Adam and Mikael and she seemed to have a good time. He should have paid more attention to her. Or invited more girls so she doesn’t feel left out. But he couldn’t really think of any girl but Sana that he wanted to have there, at that day.

When Sana keeps ignoring him and shooting hoops, he runs over to her and catches the ball before she can and with it in his arms he walks away, without saying anything. In the direction of the door to get inside.

“Yousef, what’s wrong with you?”, Sana asks and he can hear her laugh which makes him smile.

“Nothing. Just thinking if I should leave your birthday party early too.”, Yousef answers, looking over his shoulder.

Quickly Sana catches up with him. She opens the door and holds it open for him.

“Who says you’re invited?”, she says with a smug grin.

“Wow, Sana. No way. I’ll show up even if you don’t invite me. What are friends there for? To invite them to birthday parties.”, he shakes his head and looks at her disappointedly, “And you call yourself a friend.”


	3. Chapter 3

„I met someone really cool today.“, Sana announces with a grin on her face.

This is the first time in a while that the boys see Sana this happy when she comes back from school. Well, she did have her first day at her new school today.

Yousef and Elias turn around to look at her, both dropping their PlayStation controllers to give Sana their whole attention.   
Elias smiles brightly, and sends Yousef a happy look, which he only mirrors. Both boys in the living room are insanely happy that Sana seems to have had a good day.

Elias asks: “So what were you up to? After deciding not to go to our school.”, he points from Yousef to himself.

Sana drops her bag at the door and sits down on the sofa. Elias and Yousef are sitting on the ground in front of it, so they turn around to be able to face Sana. She crosses her legs under her and rolls her eyes at her brother.

“Oh please, as if you would have paid much attention to me if I attended your school. I mean, I wouldn’t want that either way so it doesn’t matter.”, Sana addresses her brother.

Yousef can see that Elias wants to retort something sarcastic and that would lead to a small argument between the siblings but he’s not up to endure that today. He wants to know all the details of Sana’s day, to know what made her this happy. He can’t stop himself from smiling the whole time Sana is smiling.

“So Sana, tell us. How was your first day?”, Yousef asks, leaning a little backwards.   
This question was roaming in his head the whole day. That much, that he kept thinking of her and her well-being and kept getting distracted. He was called on in class twice and couldn’t answer either time because he was simply not listening to the teacher. Yousef had more important things to think about.

However, he wouldn’t have asked if Sana didn’t look as happy as she does now.

At that question Sana almost jumps up in her seat and starts smiling a lot again, showing her dimples. Yousef’s eyes wander over her face and he relaxes. She had a good day, he knows that now, even before she tells them anything.

“Really good. The school is nice and I met someone really cool today, in my German class.”

Elias is the one to speak up first: “German class.. Sana, why do you do that to yourself.”

Sana rolls her eyes at her brother the same time Yousef does the exact same thing too. They see that and look at each other for a moment and laugh.

Yousef turns his attention back to Sana and asks: “Tell me about them.”

Sana’s smile grows and simultaneously Elias and Yousef’s do too.

“Chris is really great. The class wouldn’t have been the same with someone else sitting next to me and probably really boring. Then we had lunch together and will meet in front of the school tomorrow to find the rooms together.”, Sana rambles on, her smile never faltering for a moment.

She’s happy. He should be happy to. He’s her friend, after all. But something bothers Yousef. He doesn’t quite understand what it is until he lets Sana’s answer go through his head.

His stomach drops. That shouldn’t happen. Yousef is happy for her. He knows how worried she was about starting a new school. Especially because of the things that happened in her old school.

“You made a friend on your first day so high school is starting great for you.”, Elias says and has a fond smile on his face, “I’m really happy for you.”

That snaps Yousef out of it and he feels like hitting himself. Shaking his head, he looks back at Sana.   
“Me too.”

Sana holds up her phone and asks the two boys: “Want me to show you on Instagram?”

Not really, Yousef thinks, but gets up anyway. Both boys sit down on either side of Sana and while she opens the app, the landline rings. Since neither of the Bakkoush parents is home Elias gets up to get it.

Yousef takes a deep breath and puts on a smile on his face that turns genuine as soon as he sees Sana’s smile and her eyes shine looking at her phone. Yousef’s eyes are on Sana, not her phone. He loves that she looks so happy. He hadn’t seen her dimples much lately. She’d been keeping to herself a lot. He assumed it was because she was nervous to start high school.

Sana turns her phone towards the boy sitting next to her and shows him her new friend’s Instagram feed.

“This is Chris?”, Yousef asks, eyes wide and a grin creeping up on his face.

Sana nods, scrolling through the pictures. She is so happy to have met Chris. Looking at the pictures, Sana answers: “Yes, this is Chris. Isn’t she really pretty? And she’s super intelligent. She already knows so much German I need to catch up. Oh and she is so funny, we laughed all lunch.”

When Sana looks up from her phone to look at Yousef, she curses herself. Stop being such a child, she thinks to herself. He’s smiling at Sana’s phone and when he turns his gaze towards her, his smile grows bigger. Is he laughing because he’s happy for her or is he laughing because he is thinking that this is ridiculous? Sana got overly excited and didn’t filter any of her emotions before starting to talk. Not that she would have been able to if she tried to. She was and is just very happy that her first day at High School was like this.

Sana feels Yousef’s eyes on her so she looks at him again. They‘re sitting so close that their knees are touching.

“Sana, I’m so happy that you met someone so nice.”, Yousef tells her and Sana only smiles at that.

Him smiling at her was always one of her favorite things. Yousef, aside from her family, was the only one Sana could always count on to make her feel better or distract her if necessary. However, for a while now, that smile makes her feel happier. Or not happier. But a different kind of happy.

Sana has no idea when that changed. Sometime last summer maybe.

His gaze on her makes her looks down for a moment. All he is doing is smiling at her and genuinely looking happy for her. And that is enough.

“You think I’m acting like a child, don’t you?”, Sana asks, in  a low voice, actually not meaning to ask this at all. But it just slipped. She’s feeling comfortable around Yousef that she usually doesn’t have to think about what she’s saying before saying it.

A little scared of what she might see, Sana doesn’t look at him right after that.

Yousef furrows his eyebrows at this question. Did he do something that insinuated that?

“Sana, no.”, he answers quickly. He sounds dead serious which makes Sana lift her head. Looking into her eyes, Yousef continues: “Of course not. And I’m 100% sure that your friend Chris is also telling someone about you right now. You’re amazing and she’s probably describing you to her mom, siblings or whoever is around.”

-

Going out with her new friends is really making Sana nervous. Of course she wouldn’t tell them or anyone but she’s nervous. She has never really been to a huge party before, at least not of this kind. Sana doesn’t drink, she doesn’t hook up with people and she honestly doesn’t feel too comfortable in huge crowds.

Still, she got ready, and waits for Chris’ text to leave the house. With her phone in her hand Sana walks up and down her room.  Should she have put on something else? She’s wearing all black but it’s a more chic outfit than she usually wears. Also, she put more effort into doing her hijab just right. She’s not trying to impress anyone. She’s just trying to feel as confident as possible and when she likes her outfit it’s easier to her.

Sana’s phone vibrates and she quickly unlocks it.

“Eva and Noora both have food poising from some sushi they ate. Not going out tonight then.”

Is it bad to say Sana feels disappointed and relieved at the same time? After answering Chris quickly, Sana walks out of her room. It’s fine, they’ll probably go out next Friday. It’s no big deal.

But that small voice in the back of her head doesn’t leave her alone. Maybe the girls just didn’t want to hang out with her.

Sana plops down on the couch in the living room and rests her head on the backrest. She doesn’t turn on the TV nor does she notice that it’s unusually quiet around her.

“Sana?”, she hears after around ten minutes.

Since she was so deep in thoughts she jumps up slightly and quickly turns to the source of the voice. When she sees that it’s Yousef she sits up straight and smiles at him.

He smiles at her and leans on the doorframe. The white shirt he is wearing looks good on him, especially when he crosses his arms in front of his chest, Sana notices. And quickly shakes her head to get rid of that thought.   
Lately she caught herself thinking things like this one too many times. Sana likes to pretend and try to fool herself but she can’t. She knows that she’s not affected by his looks towards her, his kindness and his good looks more than she did a year ago because he suddenly changed. No, he was always like this. What changed is the way Sana perceives these things about him now. She’s always happy to see him, she always was, but lately it’s a different kind of happy.

“Hi.”, Sana says

“Hey.”, Yousef answers and looks at her closer.

Yousef’s eyes widen slightly. He didn’t know Sana was home and he definitely didn’t expect to see her looking this good. Of course she always looks good but she did her hijab a different way than usual and it’s really flattering her.

He needs to get a grip, Yousef thinks to himself, and tries to not be this obvious with his thoughts.  
Sometime in the last year, maybe even before, he stopped thinking of Sana as just his friend. Yes, she is his friend and he wouldn’t want to miss that for anything but at the same time he found himself wishing for something more a few times too often.

“What are you doing here?”, Yousef blurts out and only then understand how that sounds. He is in her house. Why the hell would he ask something like that? “I mean, what are your plans for tonight?”

“I was meant to go out with friends but that got cancelled. So … I’m not doing anything.”, Sana answers and watches as he comes more into the room, but doesn’t sit down. “You?”

“Elias left half an hour ago to meet someone and I finished some homework and was about to leave.”

“Homework on a Friday? Really, Yousef? You guys made fun of me when I decided to stay home last Friday instead of coming to the cinema with you two.”, Sana answers laughingly.

Yousef shrugs but laughs too. “The best of us need a quiet night sometimes.”, Yousef says with a smirk, “Plus, all the boys had different plans today and I got cancelled on by my cousin.”

Somehow this is the funniest thing to Sana and she throws back her head to laugh. “Oh man, we’re such losers.”

Yousef is sitting on the arm rest of the sofa by now, Sana is leaning on the other one.

“No, I might be. You’re looking too good to be one.”, Yousef says, without thinking it through and instantly shuts up after that. His eyes widen and his heart starts pounding too fast for it to be healthy.

Sana is not sure if she heard correctly. Not what he said. But how he said it. As if he didn’t mean to but it just slipped. She’s afraid of looking at him, she doesn’t want to see a nonchalant look on his face. Because this one small sentence makes her heart beat insanely fast and her stomach feels weird.

Yousef, or rather his mouth on its own, decides that he should just keep talking and hope for the best. “There’s a party happening that I know of right now, if you still want to go out.”

Wow, Yousef thinks, that might have been the worst thing to have said now. He knows Sana doesn’t enjoy huge crowds too much. But he assumed she and her friends had planned to go to a party so his brain came up with this.

Now Sana looks up and shakes her head with a small smile on her face.   
“No, I’m good.”, Sana looks around the room, thinking, “But I’m hungry so I’ll get something to eat.”

She doesn’t feel like cooking anything. To be honest she can’t really cook much anyway. Then she stands up, walks over to the hallway to put on her shoes. When she notices that Yousef is still in the living room, she asks: “Aren’t you coming?”

Yousef’s head shots up and a big smile finds it place on his lips. He doesn’t know if she means if he is not leaving her house since Elias is not there anymore either or if she asks if he wants to go get something to eat. But he doesn’t care. Both are fine. Apart from his feelings, they’re still good friends.

They walk side by side and without talking about it they walk to the kebab place around the corner that they both love a lot.

Sana likes this. The way she feels super comfortable just walking around like this, not even having to say one word.

Yousef likes this. The way he can’t think of anything he’d rather do right in this moment.

From the corner of his eye Yousef sees Sana turn her head to look at him and smiles to himself. When he meets her gaze he sees a sparkle in her eye and he doesn’t know what to say. He just returns her small smile with his own.

“Yousef, …”, Sana says slowly. He just nods, motioning for her to continue. In the same calm voice Sana says: “The floor is lava.”

Sana observes as Yousef needs a second to understand what’s going on but when he does his eyes widen and he gasped. And Sana doubles over in laughter. It only gets worse when Yousef sprints to the other side of the road to jump on a small pole that’s in someone’s driveway they can make disappear into the ground.

Sana is laughing so much that she can’t even count. The pure panic in his eyes was the best thing she had seen all week. Still laughing, Sana also crosses the street and Yousef walks back towards her.

“Wow … wow. Sana, that was so unfair.”, Yousef exclaims, waving his hands around which only makes Sana laugh even more. Her stomach hurts from all the laughing and she has tears in her eyes.

“The panic … in your eyes.. wow”, Sana manages to say with breaks in between.

Yousef crosses his arms over his chest and pouts. But he can’t stop the small smile forming on his lips. Not when Sana is laughing this much.

It takes Sana a moment to calm down, she manages when they are at the kebab shop. Before entering she looks at Yousef with a smirk: “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

“ha ha ha. Do you see how much I’m laughing.”, Yousef answers, shaking his head.

In the end they both go inside with a smile on their faces, but not looking at each other.

-

“That’s not it. I’m sure.”

“How can you be sure, though?”

“Reading is a thing, you know. You should know that, since you’re planning on becoming a doctor. You’ll need to do that.”

“Oh please, I’ll be fine.”

Yousef comes back from getting napkins and bumping into a friend while doing that, to see this.   
His former seat is taken by someone Yousef sees way too often lately. No, not lately. Since he knows the Bakkoushs. He doesn’t have to see his face to know that Sana is talking to her neighbour, Harun.

Yousef clenches his jaw at Harun’s hand on the table, dangerously close to Sana’s. Before stepping closer to the table, Yousef takes a deep breath. Then he places the napkins in front of Sana.

That makes both people at the table look at him.

“Hi, Yousef. All good, I hope?”, Harun says to him.

Yousef nods. “Yeah, how about you?”

“Good good. Was just dropping by to pick up our orders so I’ll leave your seat.”

With that Harun stands up, leaves the table and gets his orders. When he has all his stuff he walks out of the shop but doesn’t walk away before waving at Sana while walking past the window. He has his sports bag on his shoulder.

The sight of that bag makes Yousef lose his appetite for a moment. Harun and Sana have so much more in common than he does with Sana.

They both play basketball, they both are insanely intelligent and they both want to become a doctor and most definitely will succeed at that.

“Is everything okay?”, Sana asks Yousef and pulls him out of his thoughts.

He looks at her and smiles slightly.   
“Yeah.”


End file.
